Any Given Friday
by Finn21
Summary: Set in S1 between TFCITD and SITN. With the parents out of town for the weekend, Haley accidently makes plans with both Nathan and Lucas. What could ever possibly go wrong with this scenario?
1. Part 1

**Title:** Any Given Friday  
**Author:** Ashley  
**Rated**: PG-13  
**Summary:** With the parents out of town for the weekend, Haley accidently makes plans with both Nathan and Lucas. What could ever possibly go wrong with this scenario?  
**Author's Note:** For the lovely Annie's Fic Exhange. Over at the Rivercourt. Set between TFCITD and SITN.

**Requirements:**  
_Reference to episode: In 'Spirit in the Night' Haley said to Lucas in their hotel room talk - 'Have you thought about how hard it is for me? Juggling the two of you him and Nathan'? Write a short story centered on that premise. Show an instance (or more) where Haley had to do just that. . .juggle the two guys in her life. I've left the Genre pretty open so you can either write something serious. . .funny. . .or whatever. _

_Additional requirements: Must include a scene where Lucas witnesses N/H making out._

_This is for Kate. Hope you like it sweetie!_

**Part One**

Haley pulled the handle of her locker up, opening it and throwing her English notebook inside with a huff. She ran a rough hand through her hair, pulling out any tangles along the way. On her shoulder her messenger bag dug into the bare skin uncovered by her shirt, so she pulled it off letting it drop beside her on the ground. Taking a few deep breaths she tried to calm herself of all her anxiousness. She leaned her hip against the closed locker beside her and let her eyes fall shut.

It had just been one thing after another that morning, everything going from bad to worse. For some reason unknown to her, three of her teachers had chosen this particular Friday to give a test. The first teacher, Mr. Peterson, telling the class just the day before that he was going to give an unexpected English quiz, that ended up being more like a midterm, with five essay questions and twenty true or false questions. Haley hated pop exams, there was no way to fully prepare for them, to be able memorize all the information properly. And with the last minute cram session the night before, she hadn't been able to sufficiently study for her Physics or History tests. Granted she'd been studying for them all week long, but the night before she liked to go over things a few more times just to make sure she had everything down pat. Having to cram everything in for the supposed English "quiz" had screwed up her flow, causing the rest of her studying to feel rushed and inadequate

Haley sucked in a breath of air, and tried to shake her nerves away. She'd done pretty well on the English test, or pop quiz, or whatever the hell it was called. She was a little iffy on one of the essay questions, but she was fairly sure she'd cracked all of the multiple choice. Now she could spend lunch going over her Physics notes, and if she did well enough on that test she could use the remaining time in class to flip through her History notes. This could all work out fine, if it went accordingly to plan. It would be fine. It had to be fine.

Running a hand through her hair again, Haley exhaled long and hard, the muscles in her body tightening. From behind her, she felt the tall warm figure of her boyfriend come up next to her.

"I'm sure you did fine," he whispered into her ear. His rough gravelly voice sending tingles down her spine, making her body relax almost instinctively.

Spinning around she saw Nathan's grinning face staring back at her. "What," she asked a little more breathless than she would've liked.

Nathan propped one of his arms up against the locker over her head, leaning into her more, encasing his body around her, a cocky smile playing on his lips. "The test," he motioned to her locker and the notebook she'd thrown inside. "The thing I just saw you freaking out about as I walked to your locker. I'm sure you did fine."

"I wasn't freaking out," Haley was quick to defend herself, but saw the look in Nathan's eyes that told her no matter what excuse she gave him, he would consider her worrying over a test as "freaking out," so she slumped back against the closed locker next to hers and sighed.. "It's been a long week, ok. I've just been a little stressed."

"Just a little?" He teased her, using his other hand to take a loose strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. Haley felt her face hum at his touch, God she just wanted to stay right there with him like this for the rest of the day. Screw school. Well...maybe not, but it was a tempting thought.

"I have two more tests to go after lunch and then that's it," she replied joyfully, catching Nathan's hand as it left her face. She began rubbing her fingers over the calloused tips of his fingers, down to the warm center of his palm and then linking their hands together. "When the bell rings at three today, I will be a happy person. No clubs, no tutoring, no studying, just blissful freedom."

Nathan chuckled at the lighthearted smile that spread over Haley's face. "What will you possibly do with all that free time," he asked with a naughty gleam in his eyes that she recognized all too well.

Haley continued to play with their entwined hands, rubbing small circles into his skin with her thumb. She turned on an innocent wide eyed expression, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth before she connected her eyes with his. "I was hoping you could help me out with that actually. See my parents are helping my brother move to his new apartment this weekend... so they'll be gone till Sunday afternoon... And I was thinking... you could come over and keep me company."

This last thing was said with such a teasing smile, that Haley was pretty sure she saw Nathan gulp back a breath of air. She watched as his eyes glazed over for a minute before he leaned closer to her again, his voice deep and low. "Now I'm a happy person."

Haley laughed out loud at this, her first real laugh all day and pushed herself forward to rest her head against Nathan's chest. He wrapped his arms around her small frame, holding her loosely. "Whitey's making us stay late to get ready for the Classic, but I can be there by six?"

"Sounds perfect," Haley said, a giddy giggle escaping her throat at the prospect of an entire night with Nathan all to herself. He'd spent the night over at her house before, but other than the night he showed up after he collapsed at the game, his visits usually consisted of him crawling up her drain pipe, sneaking into her room at two to four am and sneaking back out seven. This was the first chance they were going to have to spend the night together without any interruptions. The prospect of that thrilled her and scared her to the point that she couldn't quite discern what the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach meant. She wasn't quite ready to go all the way with him yet, and she knew Nathan knew this. But every time they were together some new boundary was always being pushed, or crossed over. And it made her world feel like it was on the edge of a teetering bridge. Just thinking about what was to come, made her cheeks flush and her hands sweat. The next four hours of school were not going to be easy to get through, but she had to focus. Two more tests, and only one short lunch period to study. It was time to get cracking.

Pushing herself up onto her tip toes, Haley pressed her lips against Nathan's in a chaste kiss, quickly grabbing what books she needed from her locker before slamming it shut and pulling Nathan along with her to the quad for lunch.

--------------

After school, after all the dreaded tests were over, Haley stood at her locker once again, this time much less stressed, and back to her more upbeat self. She glanced up from putting everything in her bag she wouldn't need for the weekend away and saw Lucas bounding down the hall towards her, a cheerful expression on his face. Something which surprised her considering all that he'd been through in the last couple of weeks with the accident.

"What's up buddy," he grinned, resting his arm on top of her open locker door.

It felt like forever since they'd last spoke and Haley smiled openly at her best-friend's appearance "Hey! I haven't seen you all week."

"Yeah I've been dealing with some stuff," Lucas answered lamely, and Haley tried not to snort. Take away the accident and Lucas still had a revolving door of drama in his life. Brooke, Peyton, Dan, other, all of the above. He was a damn multiple choice question.

"What? More lady troubles," Haley teased, shoving the last of her needed belongings into her bag.

"That's not cool," Luke dead panned, and Haley let out a small apologetic laugh.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. So what can I do for you sir," she asked primly, with a slight joking manner in her voice. The way they used to joke around when they were younger.

Lucas's face brightened at this, as if he had some good news to tell. "Do you have plans tonight?"

Haley pulled her locker shut and met Lucas's eager gaze. "Well I–

"Of course you don't," he interjected with childish excitement. "Because tonight is the beginning of this weekends Classic movie marathon on TMC. Which means oh best-friend of mine, that you and me will be sitting our asses on your couch for the next 48 hours. Starting tonight at seven. So get ready."

Haley paused, trying to figure out how to say that she'd already made plans with her boyfirend, his brother and sometimes enemy Nathan. But found she was at a loss. "Actually Luke I'm already um..."

"What," he asked waiting.

She didn't know what to say. As much as she yearned to be with Nathan tonight, part of her also missed hanging out with Lucas. It didn't feel like so long ago, that there was a time in which she could remember when Friday nights consisted of putt-putt on the café roof with Lucas, working late for Karen, or sitting in her bedroom atop her vintage handy-me-down oak bed, curled up against her pillows, reading a good book. In the time that had occurred since her and Nathan's first kiss outside in her front lawn to now, there hadn't been more than a few days when her and Nathan weren't together. But it never seemed enough. When she wasn't with him she wanted to be, and when she was with him everything else just sort of disappeared. And because of that it made it hard to make time for her other friends. Especially her best-friend. Which caused her some pain.

Haley wasn't willing to take all the blame for their lack of time together lately, but logically she realized that her ever growing relationship with Nathan, and Lucas's stilted relationship with Nathan was a big part of the reason why it was hard to find a time and a place to hang out. And part of her regretted not trying harder to spend what free time she did have with Luke. Yet, here he was providing her with a opportunity right in this moment.

"Nothing never mind," she answered finally, shaking her head with a smile.

The serious expression that had formed on Lucas's face dissolved, leaving the happy smile once more. "Sweet. This'll be fun. We haven't hung out in a while," he stated, as they both began to walk down the hall together.

"No we haven't," Haley replied, forcing a smile on her face.

When they came up to the gym doors, Lucas turned to her with a wave. "I'll see ya tonight," he called before disappearing inside.

"Yes you will," she squeaked back weakly.

And all of sudden she felt that nervous jolt in the pit of her stomach again. Except this time it had nothing to do with the excitement of what was to come. Just the fear of knowing that she'd walked herself into a trap of her own making, one that was going to inevitably blow up in her face.

Damn.


	2. Part 2

**Author's Note:** Hey Everyone! Part 2 ended up being much longer that I had intended, and because of that it took me forever to get it posted. So thank you for waiting, and also thank you for the feedback, I love it so!

**Part Two**

Haley stood in her bedroom pacing back and forth across her floor frantically. She managed a glance at her watch, and then rechecked it once again for good measure. It was 6:30 pm and Nathan wasn't anywhere to be found, and now she was really starting to freak out. From the second she'd parted ways with Lucas at school earlier in the day, Haley had been forming ideas of ways to resolve her current boyfriend/best-friend dilemma before anything could possibly get out of hand. Her first idea was to call Nathan and simply ask him to come later. That way she could watch a movie or two with Lucas, and then have the rest of the night to spend with Nathan and neither of them would be the wiser. It wasn't that she wanted to lie to either of them, but at this point telling either one why they should leave early or come late because she wanted to spend time with the other, would just end up causing more strife between both of them. And that was the one thing she wanted to avoid at all costs.

So she'd tried calling Nathan's cell on her way home, and unfortunately received only his voicemail. This was probably due to the fact that he was still in practice. Stupid practice. So she left him a message figuring he would call her back on break. But no, she got nothing. The pacing had begun after this, inciting a new plan.

This plan was to wait until their stupid practice was over and call Lucas and ask him if they could hang out and watch movies on Saturday instead of tonight. When he'd answered his phone however, he'd sounded so excited at the prospect of hanging out with her and talking about what movies were going to be on that she felt some of his happiness rub off on her, making her excited as well. She couldn't just turn him away now, it would be so crappy of her. She imagined his face falling, the disappointment in his eyes, the hurt in his voice, his head hung low as he told her 'it was ok'. Ah, she hated making people feel bad. She couldn't turn him away. She just couldn't.

So then that plan had been voided. Which brought her back to square one. Pacing and nail biting ensued as the minutes ticked by.

Now the time was nearing seven, and she hadn't heard word one from Nathan, which was worrying her more than anything else. Uneasily she sat down on the edge of her seat at her computer desk and clicked on IM to see if maybe Nathan was at home online, but all she saw was his away message up. Where could he be? He always answered his phone. This just didn't make sense.

With a frustrated growl, Haley pushed out of her chair and began pacing again. She wrung her hands together, her mind running a mile a minute trying to construct some kind of way to get herself out of this mess.

"Do I need to wave the white flag first, or can I come in," Nathan broken in softly, standing in front of her open door, watching her pace with a small grin.

Haley stopped all movement, her worry evident on her face as their eyes connected. "Where were you? I've been calling your cell for the last hour."

Nathan came into the room until he was in front of her. "I know, I'm sorry," he sighed. "I went by my house to pick up a few things before I came over and then my Dad showed up. We started fighting, my Mom got involved and the whole thing turned into World War III."

Haley felt her heart break at the pain in Nathan's eyes. He was dealing with so much crap from his parents right now, and she wished she could just make it all disappear for him. Slowly she took his hand in hers and lead him over to her bed so that they could sit down together."Are they still trying to make you change your mind about becoming emancipated?"

Nathan plopped down beside her, their bodies pressed against each other."Yeah," he ran a hand through his hair and over his face, and tired eyes. "But I don't really give a shit what they say. I'm going through with it... I gotta get away from them Haley. I gotta get out of that house, or I'm going to lose it."

Haley curled her body around his slumped over figure, running a soothing hand up and down his back."I'm sorry this is so hard for you," she soothed, and Nathan nodded, clenching his jaw tightly before letting out a long breath trying to release his body of all the tension the fight with his parents had induced.

"How's the apartment hunting going," she asked, knowing that he'd been looking for a place to live once his emancipation went through.

"There's a few places that might work. But I need to check a couple things out first."

"We could go looking together tomorrow if you want," she offered, and Nathan turned his head to look up at her then. She was smiling, and he couldn't help but let a small grin crack across his mouth.

"More time with you? It works for me," he twisted in his sitting position, so that he could put his hands on her back, letting the feel of her silky flesh overcome all of his thoughts. "Can we make a deal?"

Haley's eyes fluttered shut as Nathan's hands worked her shoulders, rubbing them softly, ridding all of her knots."What kind of deal," she murmured, trying to contain any coherent thought as Nathan's magic hands played against her shoulders and back.

A smirk spread onto Nathan's lips when he heard Haley already beginning to lose control. He loved how she sounded when she wanted more from him. It drove him crazy and turned him on. God, did she know how to turn him on by the littlest word, the smallest moan. He smiled and breathed into her ear."The kind of deal that has me giving you a massage, if you promise me we won't talk about my parents for the rest of the weekend. Ok?"

"Hmm, I can do that on one condition," she exhaled, pulling herself from his grasp so that she was sitting in front of him. Her eyelids heavy, her brain becoming foggy of everything but him.

Nathan stared into her eyes, his hands now resting on her hips."That being..."

Haley's breath caught in her throat at how deeply he was looking into her eyes. It was one of those moments when everything around her just slowly faded away until all that was left was his beautiful face, his rough but gentle his hands, and his dark blue eyes, pools of emotion calling to her to fall inside of them. She could feel her body coming alive as his fingers began to linger up underneath the bottom of her shirt, tickling the flesh there. The nervous jitters she had come so accustomed to having whenever Nathan and her were alone and she knew things were going to rise to another level, turned into electrical shocks flowing through her in heavy currents and causing her heart rate to rise.

She didn't let herself think, didn't let herself worry about what was going to happen next, she just cupped Nathan's face in her hands and pushed her lips against his. The kiss was meant to help him relax, to help him forget about his parents and all of his troubles, so that he could just be in the moment here with her. But a kiss was never just a kiss with Nathan Scott, and as Haley tried to pull away she realized she should have remembered that little fact a bit better.

With ease, Nathan urged her forward to his mouth, using his hands which were resting on her hips to pull her to him by slipping them up her back. She tried to pull away, knowing that she needed to tell him about Lucas coming, or at least try to get him to come back later, but he was smiling at her, with those luscious lips of his, and she wanted to kiss him again. She really, really, really wanted to, and Nathan wanted her to. She couldn't refuse him could she?

Nathan made up her mind for her, by locking his arms around her small frame and drawing them together so that they were both laying down on her bed. He leaned up over her, kissing her ever so lightly on the creamy white skin of her neck before he turned back to her face and crashed his lips to hers again. Haley's hands took on a life of their own running a path up and down his broad taut chest, then over his back, until they enveloped his neck pressing their bodies tightly against each other.

She could feel her heart beating like a drum inside her chest, thump, thump, thumping away as Nathan's hands explored her body, his tongue running along the bottom of her lip, turning the rest of her body to a puddle of goo in his arms.

Reluctantly Haley tore herself away from him for some much needed air, her breaths ragged and her hands a little shaky. Nathan felt her body tremors and set his forehead against hers, keeping her nestled within his arms.

"You ok," he asked with a heavy breath, wanting to make sure he wasn't pushing to much.

Haley gazed back at him, trying to think of something intelligent to say. "Uh huh," she nodded, a girly smile forcing itself onto her mouth no matter how hard she tried to contain it.

Nathan laughed quietly and leaned down to kiss her again, when she heard _it_. The soft click of her back door opening as someone came inside. It was too light for the average person to catch, but living in this house for seventeen years Haley knew every creak, every squeak and every click there was. And this click definitely belonged to the back door that lead into her kitchen, the door that Lucas always used.

LUCAS! Oh shit, Lucas! He was here. Right now. Lucas was here. Right now Lucas was here! Shit! Haley quickly shot a glance to her bedside clock and noticed that the time was now 6:53. Where had those twenty minutes gone? She felt like she had just time warped forward without her knowledge. Had her and Nathan really been making out that long? It didn't feel like it.

Damn! Lucas was downstairs in her kitchen, probably waiting for her. She had to do something quick. Think brain think. No, don't look at Nathan's sexy lips, and how they're so perfect, how soft they feel when they press against...Concentrate woman! Focus.

What to do? What to do? She had to get downstairs to him before he came up to her, but she couldn't just run out of the room now, Nathan would follow her, and then he would see Lucas and it would all blow up. No, she had to keep them separated until she could get one of them out before they saw each other. Haley could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate trying to think of what she had to do. She needed to stay calm, be logical, there was always a way to solve a problem, you just had to figure out the solution. And the solution was always there for you to find you just had to open your eyes and look for it first.

A light bulb went off in Haley's head and before she could really think through her idea she suddenly sat up in the bed, forcing herself away from the temptation of Nathan's lips.

"I'm thirsty," she blurted out.

Nathan's head jerked back a bit, a surprised expression forming on his face at her sudden burst of behavior. "Ok," he said shrugging, but keeping his hands wrapped around her body.

Haley began to fidget in his embrace, as she tried to push herself up and off the bed."Are you thirsty? You look thirsty. Let me get you a drink."

Nathan's hands slipped to her waist and he tried pulling her back with a small laugh."Haley I'm fine. C'mere."

As Nathan pulled one way, she pulled another, extracting herself from his arms, until she was loose. She turned to get off the bed, but missed her footing and fell to the ground with a THUD. Quickly she jumped up and shook it off. "Uh no, no it's ok. You look thirsty, and I know I'm thirsty, and you can't kiss with a dry mouth that's just uncomfortable. I mean who wants to do that? Not me. That's who. It's cool. Let me get you some water. Stay here, listen to _Wilco_. I'll be right back."

Nathan watched her ramble on in amusement and curiosity as he stayed still lounging on her bed. He saw her run to her cd player, turn it on, on low before she flashed him a fast smile and exited the room.

Once free, Haley ran down the stairs taking them two at a time until she reached the kitchen where Lucas was setting down a 12-pack of Coke on her kitchen table.

"Lucas! Hey! You're early," she declared with a heavy amount of fake cheer as she slid into the kitchen.

In front of her Lucas snorted out a laugh, and nodded towards the clock on the microwave."Yeah, by like five minutes. You don't want to miss the beginning of the first movie do you?"

Haley laughed with him and shook her head. She had to appear like everything was fine. She was good at keeping calm in a crisis situation. She could do this. She could. She just had to explain to him that she couldn't hang out right now. No big deal. Totally do able. Be practical. "Oh, right. Um actually about the movie, I was thinking maybe we could–

"Wait. Hold that thought." He motioned for her to stay still and then disappeared outside again. Haley could hear him getting something from his truck and she wrung her hands together roughly, chewing on her bottom lip. She couldn't start freaking out now. Be calm. Be calm.

"Lucas...I um..." She walked close to the door, hoping he could hear her as she pathetically attempted to tell him to leave. She didn't get very far into her speech, however, before he came back inside carrying two pizza boxes that had the most delicious smell in the entire world radiating from them. Oh she loved pizza. She adored pizza. And she was a little hungry. Mmm pizza.

"I thought we might need some refreshments since we're gonna be here for awhile. I got sausage for me and pepperoni and black olives for you," Lucas said, setting the boxes on the kitchen table, a pleased smile on his face at her reaction.

Haley stared at the boxes, openly salivating over just the mere smell of all the cheesy pizza goodness that could be had."You got me black olives," she asked somewhat surprised.

"You still like those right?"

Haley scanned the boxes, trying not to appear quite so ravenous, "Yeah, I just didn't think you remembered."

Lucas chuckled at his friend and her strange thoughts."It's been a while since we've hung out Hales but it hasn't been that long. What kind of best-friend would I be if I didn't remember your weird food preferences?"

"The kind that remembers more important things," Haley teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Touche."Lucas laughed, going to work separating the pizza boxes, and placing them beside one another. He reached the one nearest to him and went to open it.

And another light bulb went off inside Haley's head. She kept telling herself she could do this. And she could dammit. She could. She could watch a movie with Lucas and spend a relaxing evening with Nathan at the same time. She just had to keep them apart long enough to spend a little time with the other. This wasn't going to be so bad, right? Right? Oh who was she kidding, this was going to explode in her face like a big, ugly, juicy zit and she knew it. But the prospect of telling Lucas to leave after he'd brought all this lovely pizza over, and with that happy puppy dog face of his staring back at her--was just out of the question. And telling Nathan to come back later, after she'd just seen the pain in his eyes from his encounter with his parents was not an option. There really was no choice here. Not one that wouldn't involve hurting someone's feelings. And Haley was going to avoid that at all costs.

"You know what," she ran around the table and placed her hand on Lucas's back urging him toward her family room. "How about I fix you a plate to eat and you go get yourself comfortable in the family room?"

"It's not a big deal Hales, I can do it," he argued, but she shook her head with a smile.

"I know, but I feel bad. You went to all this trouble to bring me food and everything. I feel like I should repay you somehow. So how about you go get relaxed and turn on the movie and I will be in there in two minutes, ok?"

Lucas wasn't sure what to do with her generosity, but figured being waited on wasn't such a bad bargain. He shrugged. "Ok, if it's what you want," he walked toward the family room of his own accord, turning back once more. Haley nodded at him with a big smile.

"It is," she grinned widely and stood there until he was out of sight, whipping around as fast as she could to jet back up the stairs to her waiting boyfriend.

Right before she entered the room she inhaled a few breaths of air to even out her rapid heart rate, ran a ragged hand through her hair to smoothen it out, and then leisurely walked back into her room. Inside Nathan was sprawled out across her bed, his arms tucked behind his head as he stared at her ceiling with little interest. When he saw her come in he glanced at her and then back to the ceiling. Haley crossed her fingers that he wasn't pissed at her for being gone so long.

Slipping on the bed beside him, she laid her head on top of his chest, winding her arms around his body. She listened to the quite sound of his breathing, patiently waiting for him to speak. When he didn't say anything for a of couple minutes, she arched her head up to meet his eyes. She needed to say something so that she could get back down to the family room before Lucas came into the kitchen, but she didn't want to leave Nathan. He was so warm and cuddly and now he was looking down at her with those bottomless blue eyes. Oh those eyes...

"What were you doing down there," he asked, his voice husky and low. Haley felt her insides turn to mush, and then spark back to life again as his hands pulled away from behind his head and came around her waist, just barely grazing her ass. He lightly looped his thumbs under the top of her jeans to caress the skin on her bare back, and she shivered.

"Um nothing," she mumbled out, trying to concentrate on way too many things at once, and really only wanting to make out with her oh-so-sexy boyfriend, and his low raspy voice and beautifully sculpted lips and...what the holy crap she had to snap out of it right now!

Without thinking she tried to disentangle herself from Nathan's grasp but he pulled her back to him with little effort, snuggling his face into the crook of her neck. She stayed put for the moment. Too helpless to resist. Really she was.

"You know it's weird," he said, pressing a light kiss on her jaw, "I totally thought I heard you talking to someone downstairs."

Haley froze. Whole body from fingertips to toes unable to move. Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Explain, Haley explain. Don't freeze up now or he'll know something's up. There's a logical way to answer his question. Just think. "Really? Um, well that 's because I was talking to my um...my um..." She swallowed hard. Think damn you think. Who is there to talk to other than Lucas. Who in this world could there possibly be to talk to other than the one person who is actually here to talk to. Who else is... "MY MOM! I was talking to my MOM! ON THE PHONE! I was talking to my mom on the phone, ya know like people do. And just telling her that things were fine. Because, you know, they are! And I didn't want her to worry and call here and have you answer and then get all suspicious and come home and ruin our weekend which would so suck and nobody wants that to happen," she blew out all in one breath.

Nathan's eyebrows rose at her explosion, a smile spreading onto his face. His girlfriend was starting to act like she was on crack, but he found it quite amusing to see her this hyped up about their weekend so he wasn't one to complain. "That's...great Hales. So everything's cool then?"

Trauma averted for now. Haley nodded her head vigorously, relaxing back into his arms for a second. "Yep, everything's perfect."

"Awesome. So where are the drinks," he gave her a wide eyed expression.

Haley was admittedly confused. "What drinks?"

Nathan laughed, rolling his eyes, "The drinks. Remember, the reason you went downstairs in the first place?"

Of course, the drinks. Come on genius wake up. "Oh right, _duh_, the drinks," Haley smacked her forehead and rolled her own eyes, using this as her out to get back downstairs. She started to get up as Nathan tried to yank back at her again, but he missed her by a hair and she hopped off the bed.

"Where are you going," he pouted, sticking his bottom lip out in the cutest way she'd ever seen. She had to physically grind her nails into the palm of her hand to stop herself from jumping back on the bed and ravaging him right then and there. Curse his good looks. Curse them and her weakness for them

"I'm going to get the drinks," she walked to the door. "Remember, the reason I went downstairs in the first place," she jokingly mocked him, making her voice deep like his, her body going straight and tall as she tried to pull off the Scott charm.

Nathan puffed out a laugh at her imitation, waving off her words. "I was just teasing baby. I don't care about the stupid drinks. Come back and lay down with me...Come on, I want to hold you."

OHH! Why did he have to say things like that? Why? It just made walking out the door so much harder. Haley could feel her feet literally dragging her back to him. He was like a force she could not deny. One she didn't want to deny either. But Lucas...Her best friend. Downstairs. Waiting for her. Must. Go. To. Lucas. Must. Leave. Hot. Boyfriend. Must. Go. Now.

Grinding her fingernails farther into her palm Haley plastered the peppiest most plastic smile on her face that she could.. She forced herself to her doorway turning away from Nathan, though it caused her no small amount of pain and waved her hand back at him. "I know, I'll be back in two seconds though. I promise. Just stay put."

Before he could respond she ran down the stairs and back into the kitchen grabbing two plates and stuffing two pieces of each kind of pizza on them. Hurriedly she grabbed the Coke Lucas had brought and filled two glasses halfway before she used her waitressing abilities to their full advantage by stealthily juggling all four items in her arms as she walk-ran into her family room.

Lucas appeared to be very much engrossed in the movie on the couch when she came in, for which she was grateful, hoping he hadn't realized how much time it had taken her to join him. He took the plate and glass she offered him with a quick smile, laying it on his lap and digging in.

"So what did I miss," she asked, taking a seat beside him,

Lucas was mid-chew when he wiped some of the pizza grease off of his face, then pointed to one of the figures on the t.v. screen. "Well, the guy on the right played by Cary Grant just got married, and I guess now he's come home to see his two crazy old aunts to tell them about it. But their being like, extra crazy and his cousin Teddy–who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt–keeps getting in the way. It's pretty funny."

Haley took a sip of her drink, thinking that although amusing, Lucas's summarizing skills could use a little work."What's the name of this movie again, it sounds familiar?"

Lucas took another giant bite of his pizza and mumbled out, "Marvinandmoldycheese."

Haley gave him an incredulous look. "What?"

Swallowing the rest of his bite, Lucas slurped down a healthy amount of his drink in one gulp making Haley's face twist in disgust. Boys were so gross when they ate.

"_Arsenic and Old Lace_," he repeated.

"Ok, that makes more sense," she laughed, picking up her pizza slice an taking a bite.

Lucas noticed Haley was sitting at the edge of her seat, as if she was ready to take off, which slightly puzzled him. He turned to her, observing her as she watched the t.v screen and was struck with how much he missed just being with her like this, the two of them together again like when they were kids. Before basketball and Dan Scott came into the picture. Before girls were anything more than just girls, even before he knew about Nathan's existence. It was so much simpler back then. Everything was easier, more normal.

"Hey Hales," he spoke softly, bringing the brunette out of her thoughts.

"Yeah," she turned away from the t.v. to look at him.

"I'm really glad we got the chance to hang out today. I feel like we haven't been able to do this for awhile."

Haley smiled uneasily at him, trying curb that feeling she'd in the pit of her stomach earlier. "Yeah, me too," she squeaked out in one breath.

Lucas eyed her for a minute, as if he was about to saying something else, but didn't. Instead he got up out of his seat. Haley took notice of this at once.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Going to get more pizza," Lucas looked at her as if she'd lost a few marbles, which she wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't at this point.

"Here, let me get it for you," she jumped out of her seat and tried to grab the plate from him before he could go any farther. She had to keep Lucas in the family room where she could keep an eye on him. She also needed to get those stupid glasses of water for her and Nathan before she went back upstairs again or then he'd really think she'd gone off to the land of crazies.

"Don't worry about it. I got," Lucas yanked back on his plate.

"No really," Haley pulled harder this time, ripping the plate from his hand, a sweet innocent smile on her face, "_let me_. I was going to get up anyway. I'm kinda cold, and I wanted to grab a sweatshirt from my room. So I'll do it."

Lucas was eyeing her again in that weird way, but she was beyond caring now. "Fine," he turned back to the couch. "But hurry up. You've already missed the whole beginning of this movie, and I'm not explaining it again."

Haley walked down the hall quickly, calling back. "That's probably a good thing!"

"Funny," he spit out sarcastically."

"I try," she countered, and ran into the kitchen. She threw Lucas's plate on the table whipping out two more slices of pizza for him, then snagging two glasses from the cupboard and filling them both half way with water.

She bolted up the stairs in record time , spilling some of the water on her pants. Pausing, she brushed it off, rubbing her hand across the material in frustration. She blew out a breath of air, and walked back down the second floor hallway to her room.

"Hey," she greeted happily, as she came into the room. Nathan was still sprawled out across her bed, but if it was possible he looked more bored now than before, in fact if his eyes weren't open she'd almost believe he was asleep.

He turned on his side when she came into the room and offered a dull, "Hey," in return. He was getting agitated with her now. She could see it clearly. Nathan hated to be bored, and more than that he hated staying still in one place for too long with nothing to do. And she was for all intents and purposes forcing him to do something he hated. Yep, he was definitely getting irritated, and right now she could not deal with a weirded out Lucas and an angry Nathan. That was just too much for any one girl to handle.

Hoping/trying for the playful tactic, Haley set her glass of water down on her desk and walked over to the bed, handing Nathan his drink and then laying down beside him. Surprisingly enough he took the water with a small smile, bringing it to those pretty lips of his and taking a long drink. When he was done, he set it down on her bedside table and turned back to her with an unexpected gleam in his eyes.

"I feel like I should pay you for how long it took to get this. In fact I think I've listened to this entire album in the time it took you to get two glasses of water. And I've come to the conclusion that track six ain't so bad."

A huge smile spread across Haley's face at the mention of him liking something she liked, and she so poked her boyfriend in the chest just to serve her point. "See I told you, you'd like my music if you gave it a chance."

"No, you're music still sucks, I just like track six," he replied with a wicked smirk. Haley's mouth opened into a wide O, as she smacked Nathan on the arm and then on the chest. He caught her hand before she could do it again, holding it far away from his body.

"Ow, no hitting," he laughed, entertained by Haley's inability to break free from his grasp and her desperate need to try anyway.

Haley wasn't amused though, and she squinted her eyes at Nathan in an evil glare. "That didn't hurt you."

"Not at all. But I'd much rather you be kissing me, than hitting me, or walking away for that matter," he replied, letting her hand slip from his grasp.

Haley's eyes fell to her comforter. Maybe she wasn't so good at this juggling two guys at once thing. Lucas was starting to get freaked out, Nathan was feeling neglected, and she, well she was ready and willing to pull all of her hair out just so this whole ridiculous debacle could be over with.

Until it was officially over though, she needed to keep herself on track before she dug herself deeper into the already grand canyon-sized hole she was presently in. Which meant major damage control.

"I'm sorry Nathan. I've been distracted today. But no more. I promise. Cross my heart," she pressed herself up near him.

"Do you pinky swear too," he teased, making her frown.

"How about you just kiss me and we'll call it even," she asked hopefully, leaning forward to that sexy mouth of his.

Nathan tilted back before she could press her lips against his however, and placed his pointer finger on top of his chin, tapping it a few times for affect. "Um, let me think about it first and I'll get back to you."

Haley's immediate reaction was to be offended, but instead of playing along with his silly game, and wanting so badly to just be kissing him right then, she placed her hands on the sides of his face and pressed her lips to his. At first Nathan stayed still, feeling Haley lavish his lips with all of her attention. But when she begged for entrance into his mouth, her tongue flicking across his bottom lip, he couldn't control himself any longer. Eagerly he wrapped his arms around her body crushing them together. He ran his tongue over her lips and into her mouth, intensifying the kiss. Haley felt the heat in her body rise, and she softly moaned out Nathan's name. He pulled her to him harder, holding onto her as if she was the last thing in the entire world.

Out of nowhere a loud crash boomed through the house and up into the quite second story room of Haley's bedroom. The noise startled Nathan and he paused, pulling away from Haley with a sharp eye.

"What the hell was that!"

Should she tell him it was the t.v. or something else? Stupid question. "The t.v.," she answered casually.

Nathan cocked his head to the side, confused. "Why is your t.v. on?"

Good question. "Because I turned it on when I was downstairs," Haley replied weakly. Nathan gave her the same look Lucas had just minutes before, like she was wacked out of her mind. Great. Just great.

"Why?"

Haley fumbled for an answer. Dammit Luke, why did he have to turn the volume up? Because things obviously weren't hard enough yet. Thanks pal. "I wanted to...I wanted to, to check the weather," Yeah that works, the weather, "for tomorrow. Make sure it would be sunny when we went apartment hunting."

"It doesn't sound like the weather channel to me," Nathan sat up on the bed and swung his legs to the floor. Crap, he was getting up to go check out what it was. Why did she have to pick such an overprotective boyfriend? Argh!

"My dog probably just hit the remote," she cried, crawling over to him on the bed, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pulling him back to her so that she could get up in his place. "Here, let me go turn it off.

Nathan flashed two emotions, the first of which didn't want to let his girlfriend venture down into what might be unsafe territory--but using logic he brushed that away. The second, more prominent emotion, was that of astonishment that she was actually going to leave him, again. "You're going downstairs, again? You've got to me kidding me?"

"I don't want anything distracting us, or getting in the way. Let me go turn it off. I'll be right back.," Nathan's face went cold and he rolled his eyes sighing. Now he really was pissed. Placing a light hand on his cheek Haley repeated herself with conviction. "_I will_."

"Whatever," he mumbled, passed talking about it anymore.

Haley knew she couldn't leave him like this. He would either get up and walk out the second she left, or he'd be even more sullen and moody by the time she came back. Neither options were going to work. So using the only piece of ammo she had left, she climbed back over the bed and Nathan's body to straddle herself on top of his lap. She enveloped his neck with her arms and crashed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Her tongue found and explored the deep recesses of his mouth, her hands tangling in his soft hair until they both melted into each other, everything else disappearing.

Haley drew back first, slowly slipping from his arms, a dopey look in his eyes as she repeated herself once again. "I will."

"Mmm hmm," was Nathan's only reply.

Pleased with herself, Haley placed a chaste kiss on the tip of his nose and scurried out of the room before he could take notice. Jumping down the stairs three at a time now, she barreled down the hallway to the kitchen grabbing Lucas's plate and then dashing to the family room, not bothering to ease herself in.

Lucas's eyes widened at her entrance, but all she could do was hand him his plate and bark out in a loud whisper, "What are you doing?"

He seemed taken aback by her words at first. "Watching a movie Captain Obvious. What are you doing?"

Haley ran over to the television screen and pressed her finger down on the volume button until the t.v. was barely audible. When she was done with that she came over and took the remote that was sitting next to her blonde friend and put it on the other side of her, out of his reach.

"Don't turn it up so loud, ok? I have neighbors."

Lucas looked at her incredulous. "Since when do your neighbors care how much noise comes from the James house? And, hey, it wasn't even that loud!"

"I just like to keep it down when my parents are away. I don't want my neighbors thinking I'm having parties when I'm alone in the house," she whispered. She was coming off like a huge bitch, and she felt bad about it, she did. But if Lucas didn't start cooperating with her here, everything was going to go to hell fast.

"Fine, I'll keep it down," he shrugged.

"Thank you," she replied quietly.

Lucas looked to her again from the corner of his eye. "Hey, Haley?"

"What?"

"Why are you whispering?"

"I'm not whispering. I'm just using my inside voice. There's no need to shout Luke. We're right next to each other," she scolded him.

Lucas's eyes grew even wider and he scooted down the couch from her a little for emphasis."Ok Psycho. Whatever you say," he motioned to her and her weird behavior. "You know you've missed most of this movie now. There's no way you're gonna know what the hell is going on. But I guess there's always the next one."

Now that was laughable. There was no way she was going to survive another movie. Not unless the hand of God stepped in and started helping her out a little more."Yeah! Right," Haley cackled, tiny, little squeaky noises bursting from her mouth hysterically.

Lucas paused, somewhat fear of his life, and whatever this person who had taken his friend away might to do to him."Are you ok," he asked timidly.

"I'm fine," Haley chirped back merrily. "I'm great. Perfect." _On the edge of losing my mind, but you know, perfect._

Lucas nodded slowly, willing to take her answer for what is was, and hoping with all of his being that maybe if he pretended like he didn't see anything crazy it would all just go away.

Inwardly Haley was trying to recollect herself. Lucas now officially thought she was insane, and with the way she was acting she didn't blame him. Not one bit. But with all that was good and holy in the world she needed to get one of the Scott boys out of her house now before she really did lose it. This little arrangement wasn't working, and she wasn't dumb enough not to see that clearly now.

Taking a calming breath, Haley let her eyes fall shut for a mere minute when there was a creak in the floor from up above.

"What was that," Lucas asked, looking up to the ceiling.

Oh damn! He'd heard it too. This was not good. This was really, really not good. What were her options here? Pretend she didn't hear it, or play it off as something else?

"What was what," Haley replied innocently. Playing dumb, her only answer.

Lucas stayed silent for a moment waiting to hear the sound again. "That noise upstairs. Did you hear it?"

"No."

"Are you sure, because I swear I thought I heard something."

Haley rolled her eyes, and gave Lucas the crazy look. Aha! The tables have turned. "Luke, I didn't hear anything. Just watch the movie. I'm going to go get some more Coke."

Lucas didn't say anything as Haley walked out of the room, but he took notice of her half full glass pop and the fact that she had no sweatshirt with her, and he frowned. Something wasn't right, he knew that much.

Halfway up the stairs Haley saw Nathan walking out of her room, and ran up to him placing her hands in front of his chest to stop him.

"Whoa! What are you doing?"

Nathan pursed his lips together, his eyes heavy and bored. "Well I was waiting for you to come back to finish what we started, but you don't seem that into it. So I was gonna fix myself something to eat."

"I'll make it for you," Haley beat back quickly.

He scrunched up his face. "Make what? You don't even know what I want."

"Tell me what you want and I'll make it for you," she replied, trying to ease him back to her room, but he brushed her arm away. He was truly irritated with her now. This was not of the good.

"You know, you've been acting weird ever since I got here. What is with you today?"

"What's with today, today," she shrugged, trying for an easy out. But he was giving her 'the look', the one that told her to cut the crap. "Nothing! Nothing's with me. I just want to do something nice for my boyfriend. What's the big deal?"

Nathan scowled."Do you want me to stay tonight? I mean really? Because you haven't stopped running in and out on me since the moment I came, and I get the feeling that you don't want me here."

Haley looped her arms around Nathan's middle arching her head up to look in his eyes. She felt like the worst girlfriend ever. "That's not true. I'm sorry I made you feel that way, but I do want you here Nathan. I want you with me. I swear. Things have just been crazy today. Let me make it up to you, please.? I'll go make you something to eat. You rest and relax...Please?"

Nathan stood stiffly, contemplating her words.

Urging him to say yes, Haley rubbed her hands up and down his back, stretching up on her tip toes to reach his mouth. "Pleeeeeeeease," she begged, placing a kiss on the tip of his chin. "Please," another on the corner of his mouth. "Please," on the other side of his mouth. "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, please," she whimpered, jutting out her bottom lip into a huge pout, full on big does eyes staring back at him.

He let a smile slip, she jumped up and crushed her lips to his, and he laughed.

"Alright," he sighed, shaking his head as he went back to her room.

Disaster averted once again, Haley fled down the stairs heading back to the family room when she ran into Lucas coming out of the kitchen.

"What are you doing,"she blurted out again. Why was she asking that question so much? Why was he moving around so much? Why? Why? Why?

"Coming to check on you, actually," he replied.

"_Why_?"

"Because you were up there forever, the movie's over and now your pizza's cold. I'm starting to think you have someone hiding up there or something," he replied, shaking his head.

Haley popped out a sharp laugh. "Wouldn't that be ridiculous?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he chuckled.

As Haley started to walk back to the family room he spoke again, staying in his place. "Um Hales?"

"Huh?"

"Maybe it's just me, but I'm kind of getting the feeling that you're not really into this right now."

Haley wanted to be peppy and tell him it wasn't true. She wanted to fake it for him, because in all honestly she hadn't had time to spend with Lucas in awhile and she missed her friend. But her brain was fried, and her body was tried, and if she had to keep running back forth like this for the next two hours someone had better be prepared to take her to the ER when she passed out from Scott-exhaustion.

It was best that it end this way. She could make it up to Luke later, when everything was less frantic. When she was less frantic. "Is it that obvious," she asked remorsefully.

"Sorta. Kinda...A lot," he nodded, but smiles anyway.

Haley came up to him putting a hand on his arm. "God Luke, I suck. I'm sorry. Do you hate me?"

"Only a little," he laughed. "Do you want to just pick up tomorrow sometime? I can give you a call?"

Haley wrapped her arms around her friend and gave him a quick hug. "Yes! You're the best. Thank you, thank you, thank you." And thank God, that it's over.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lucas waved her off, grinning, "That's what I' m here for."

Haley walked him to the back kitchen door and watched him leave."Don't forget to call me, or I will hunt you down," she pointed to him as he traipsed to his truck.

"I'll hold you to that," Lucas stated with warm smile and then jumped into his vehicle.

Once he'd pulled away Haley slumped back against the closed door and blew out a long sigh of relief. She could crumple to the ground right now and never move again, she was that worn out. Who knew two Scott boys could be so much work? _You knew_, her brain screamed at her, _but you just didn't want to listen. There's no one to blame but you_. Well there's no one to blame because it worked out anyway stupid brain, so who's the chump now, huh? Who? You are! Yeah, that's right.

Officially bonkers and realizing that she was now having a conversation with herself about herself, Haley pushed up off of the door and slowly treaded her way back to the diabolical creation known as the staircase. With the image of Nathan's warm chest, and soft arms simmering in her mind, she trudged half way up the steps only to come up against Nathan's body going the opposite direction.

She gave him a goofy, tired smile, and leaned against the bannister. There just wasn't any energy left in her to stand anymore. "What are you doing sneaking downstairs? I thought I told you to relax?"

"I wanted to see what the hell you were doing down here. It's gotta be something awesome if it keeps taking you away from me," he smirked and rested his elbow on the bannister, setting his chin in his hand so that he could look at her straight on.

Haley rolled her eyes. "Well first there was my drug dealer, and then my pimp, and oh, I can't forget about Bubba, my other boyfriend. I had to give him a little lovin' before he left. But nothing huge, you know, just the regular stuff."

"Right," Nathan nodded. "And did you remember to get the good heroin this time, because I hate that cheap shit?"

"Well of course, only the best for my _baby_," Haley teased, scrunching up her nose, and leaning in to press her forehead against Nathan's.

"_For my baby_," Nathan sing-songed, pulling Haley on top of him as he leaned back to lay on the staircase. He held her closely, simply staring into her eyes.

"My baby," Haley cooed, and cupped Nathan's face in her hands, gently pressing her lips to his. She stroked the back of his neck with light fingertips, feeling the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Her tongue traced the edge of his bottom lip, and he arched his neck up off the step to deepen the kiss. His tongue begged for entrance into her mouth, and Haley gave him her admittance without hesitation. Tightening his grip on her waist, Nathan sucked on her bottom lip, listening to her slightly gasp for breath. Smiling into the kiss, he let his hands roam down beneath her waist. Haley felt his fingers trailing below enemy lines, the butterflies in her stomach erupting inside of her.

"Hey Hales, do you mind if I take some of the pizza home to my mom because she–

Lucas froze mid-sentence when he came into the hallway to see his best-friend and his brother going at it on the stairs. The couple stared back at him in complete shock. Nathan's eyes bugged out of his head, his face turning angry.

Haley couldn't think of anything to say at all.

She was so busted.


End file.
